A Dog's Way Home

Resumo

Daddy says, "Most folks got a north star in their life-something that gives their life extra meaning. Mine is music."

Without even thinking, I say, "Mine is Tam."

Abby knows that Tam, her Shetland sheepdog, is her north star, and she's pretty certain she's his, too. But when an accident separates Abby and Tam, it feels as though all the stars have fallen out of the sky and nothing will ever be right again. As the days between them turn to weeks, then months, dangers and changes fill up Abby's and Tam's lives. Will they ever find their way home to each other?

Set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a dog's way home is an unforgettable tale of the many miles, months, and mountains that divide two loyal friends-but that can't possibly keep them apart.

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Kids who love dog-books best will devour this, but others looking for a sweet, and sometimes scary, adventure story will be reeled in. Abby, a 6th grade girl from North Carolina and her sweet Sheltie Tam, are inseparable. Coming back from an agility contest, they are in a car crash along the Blue Ridge Highway. Disorientated and injured, Tam is separated from his family. Will he find his way home? With hundreds of miles of wilderness and danger between Tam and home, he starts on his trek, unaware that Abby, brokenhearted, is moving to Nashville while her father is pursuing a recording deal. Faced with the trepidation of being a new kid in a city school, Abby worries that she'll never know the real meaning of home, of friendship, or of love again. Told in alternating voices, this story succeeds to tell the struggles of Tam and Abby convincingly and endearingly.

A car accident separates Abby from her beloved sheepdog, Tam. The story of their attempts to reunite is tool in short, alternating chapters from the point of view of Abby and Tam. Tension mounts as more obstacles are placed in the way of Abby and Tam. For fans of Lassie Come Home, The Incredible Journey and all dog lovers.

OK, so it’s a bit soapy, but A Dog’s Way Home by Bobbie Pyron made me mist at the ending. You’d have to be a totally unfeeling person not to mist up after reading about a dog traveling 300+ miles, through rain, sleet, and snow, battling humans, coyotes, and starvation to get back to his 12 year old owner, Abby. And that’s what Tam does. In chapters alternating between Abby’s unwavering belief that Tam is alive and Tam’s unwavering love of his owner, A Dog’s Way Home is heartwarming. It’s the movie Homeward Bound without the humorous interplay of Sally Field and Michael J. Fox. Tam is show quality Sheltie. On the way home to Harmony Gap, NC from a show 300+ miles north near Roanoke, VA, Tam’s in a crate in the back of a truck driven by Abby’s mother. She swerves off the road to avoid a deer and dog and crate go flying off the truck and down a major hill, landing in a rapidly flowing creek. Lucky to escape, Tam begins his long trek home. Abby and her mother are injured and taken to the local hospital. They can’t go back to the scene of the accident. Abby’s father, Ian, a musician, is on the road a lot. To make matters worse, some months later, the family must move to Nashville to further Ian’s career. Now, how will Tam ever find Abby? I must admit I wasn’t expecting much after reading the first chapter, but boy this book grows on you. Yes, you know the ending, but traveling Tam’s road to get there was as stressful for me as it appears to be for him. This is a great book for middle school age dog lovers. It captures the awkwardness of those teenage years. It captures the reciprocal love of a girl and her dog and it’ll capture your heart.

The cover is adorable and had to check it out as soon as I saw it, even though I figured it'd be a Lassie rip-off. But it's a very cute, heart-warming story and Pyron makes it less cliche by giving Tam's point of view as well as Abby's.

Eleven-year-old Abby's best friend is her dog Tam. While driving home after a competition, they are involved in an accident which sends Abby to the hospital. Tam's crate is thrown from the vehicle and no one can locate him. Abby is sick with worry, but she knows Tam is out there somewhere and she has to find him. Tam is just as strong-willed as Abby and will fight against all odds to make it back home to Abby.Ms. Pyron has written a beautiful story of friendship, hope and survival. As a child I loved books and movies that dealt with dogs and their owners. One of my favorites was The Incredible Journey, and this book was very reminiscent of that. Abby is a very strong young woman, and her hope and determination in finding her best friend is admirable. The book alternates between Abby and Tam, and I found myself rooting for Tam as he fought his way back home to his human. This book is fun and full of adventure. It's a heart warming tale of the bond between humans and their beloved pets. I highly recommend it.

My thoughts: Holy wow! Where to start? I truly LOVED this book! Bobbie Pyron is a gifted storyteller. This story is beautifully written. The book itself is a reader's dream: the cover is wonderful, the print is easy to read with enough white space on the pages to be encouraging even though it's a "fat" book by a sixth graders point of view. The characters are realistic, the language is straight forward and easy to understand. The names aren't tricky or hard to pronounce, the storyline draws you in from the first page, and it's fast paced enough to keep you turning the pages without ever getting lost. I sat down with every intention of reading for a little while and then getting some things done before coming back to the book. That didn't happen. I sat down with Bobbie's book and was "in" after opening the cover. I didn't leave the couch or close the book until I turned the last page, with tears streaming down my cheeks. I am a dog lover. I have two dogs of my own and two "grand"dogs. I fell in love with Tam and Abby on the first pages. The bond between a girl and her dog is an amazing thing and Bobbie Pyron has captured it's very essence on the pages of her story. I enjoyed how the chapters alternated between Abby and Tam so we were able to get both perspectives throughout the book. I loved the similarities in the experiences that each had in their journey, such as Tam and Abby both making unlikely friends who played key roles in the final outcome. I found it intriguing that there was so much about "Home" and what that meant. Many of the characters were searching as hard as Tam was for what they felt "home" was. The characters are fantastic. The author has carefully created incredibly memorable characters. She has made them believable, realistic and easy to relate to. She has developed them so vividly that I was able to easily see them in my mind as I read the words. Each one stands strong - with their ideas, values, and beliefs at the forefront of who they are. I found myself relating the characters to people in my own life that fit into those same roles. I can't say there is a single character in the story that I don't like. (aside from the trapper and the man with the rifle, okay - the few who show up once and are mean to the dog - I don't like them). I enjoyed all them all so much that I find myself hard pressed to pick a favorite character. Usually this is easy for me when I read a book, but this time it was hard. I like Ian's "North Star" analogy, and I loved that later Meemaw explains that dreams change and sometimes wanting something for so long doesn't mean getting it is always the answer. I had tears in my eyes when Abby's mom told her she was her "North Star." I especially liked Olivia though. She seems wise beyond her years, reminding me of my sister. Two of my favorite parts of the book come from her. (from page 32) Then she looked directly into my eyes. "My mom often said love creates miracles." And that was all Olivia had to say about that. And it was all I needed to hear.(from page 125) ...My papa used to always say the earth only spins one way: forward. The relationships between the characters are incredible. So much nuance and hidden meaning. There is a message in the book that comes through on almost every page, but isn't blatant. It leaves the reader to discover what it all means to them as an individual. The story is one about a girl and her lost dog, but is in so many ways so much more than that. It is a story of hope, courage, fear, longing, believing, and love. It is a deep and touching story with more meaning than you would ever imagine by just looking at the cover, or even reading the blurb. To be honest, while I would have readily handed it this to any of my students asking about a dog book, I would have told myself to add it to my reading stack and one day if I had time I would have read it. I am so very, very pleased that I was approached by Teddy Rose and asked to read and review A Dog's Way Home because if not, I would have missed out on an amazing and inspiring story.

Abby loves her Shetland sheepdog Tam and the pair of them are doing very well in agility competitions until disaster strikes on the way back from a competition and Tam is lost in a wild, mountainous area of the United States. Abby is certain Tam is still alive and tries to find him and Tam is also doing his best to make his way home to Abby. Their struggle to be reunited is complicated by Abby’s family moving to Nashville and Tam’s encounters with various hazards.This story is like The Incredible Journey and some of the incidents seem very similar to incidents in that book. However, A Dog’s Way Home is different in that it is told in alternating chapters from both Abby and Tam’s point of view. As well as Tam being missing Abby also has to deal with issues of leaving friends and family and finding her way in a new place. Recommended for animal-loving girls aged 8 and up.

11-year-old Abby and her beloved dog Tam are separated when they get in a car accident. Tam is forgotten in the commotion of getting the injured Abby to the hospital and when they return to look for him, he is gone. The book alternates between Abby's and Tam's points of view as Tam tries to find his way home.This is a book, elementary school girls will love . . . especially those into animals. In fact, I can't wait to pass it on to my daughters who are big dog lovers. It reminds of part Incredible Journey and part A Dog's Life.